72. Consort Xian surrenders herself.
Wei Xiuming stared coldly at her; another murderer in this case had turned himself in.
It turned out to be the virtuous and gentle Consort Xian, who was always unassuming and never competed for anything.
He had his suspicions, but if he could, he didn't want to suspect her.
This left him with an indescribable disappointment, so he remained silent.
Qu Zijin spoke up for him: "What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?"
"Your Majesty..." Consort Xian bit her lip, "Your Majesty knew long ago that Chun Tao had a problem, but deliberately let it go..."
Wei Xiuming said, "Explain clearly."
"Your Majesty is simply too frightened. Your Majesty has not visited the inner palace for a long time, and I only have one princess. I have no other wish but that the princess can grow up happily. But..." Consort Xian's voice trembled, "But Consort Qi cannot tolerate me, and she has the only prince. Although she is confined to her quarters for the time being, with the prince by her side, she will surely have her day to rise again..."
She recounted her inner thoughts in detail: "As the prince grows older, her power will only increase. The more I think about it, the more anxious I become. I wonder how the princess and I will conduct ourselves when the prince ascends the throne?"
"I was momentarily blinded by greed, thinking that if I could find something to hold against Qi Xunyuan, I could make sure she could never recover, or even... even kill her..."
Consort Xian took a deep breath and continued, "So, when I learned that Chun Tao had secretly slipped out of the palace, I concealed it and suppressed the matter, hoping to gain more leverage over her."
"When I discovered that Chun Tao was secretly approaching His Majesty's tribute wine, I did not report it. I only gathered evidence in an attempt to lure out Consort Qi..."
Consort Xian, realizing the enormity of her mistake, trembled and wept, crying out, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I truly had no idea that Chun Tao would be so audacious as to poison you!"
"So you're gambling with my life?" Wei Xiuming laughed angrily. "What a virtuous and kind Consort!"
Consort Xian kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty! I really didn't know it would turn out like this! I thought that the young prince was too young, and Consort Qi's family had lost power, so she wouldn't dare to poison him no matter what!"
She truly hadn't expected Consort Qi to be so crazy.
She dared to assassinate the emperor when the little prince was only five years old!
"I truly never imagined she would commit such a heinous act!" Consort Xian cried, tears streaming down her face. "No matter how much I hate her, I would never risk His Majesty's life!"
“Why wouldn’t she dare?” Wei Xiuming retorted. “If she kills me, the young prince can ascend the throne, and she will become the Empress Dowager with boundless honor, ruling from behind the curtain and controlling the court.”
As for whether this will lead to the downfall of the country?
He felt that Qi Xunyuan, that madwoman, wouldn't care at all.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have poisoned him.
Qu Zijin said coldly, "Does Your Highness know that your momentary selfishness almost caused the deaths of two people?"
Consort Xian's face turned ashen, and she kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I know my crime..."
She knew that she had overplayed her hand this time.
His selfishness nearly led to the downfall of the dynasty.
"And what about Princess Fukang?" Wei Xiuming questioned her, "Did you also deliberately indulge her?"
Consort Xian suddenly looked up, her face changing drastically: "No! Your Majesty! Princess Fukang's falling into the water was unexpected. I never intended to harm Princess Fukang!"
"Your Majesty, I admit that I made a mistake in this matter. It was my negligence that allowed Chun Tao to take advantage of me. But I swear, I never intended to harm Princess Fukang!"
Clearly, Consort Xian not only did not expect Qi Xunyuan to dare to poison the emperor, but she also did not expect that after poisoning him, Qi Xunyuan would not immediately cover up the traces, but would instead try to kill Jin Lanyue.
Her mistake was that she considered herself a normal person.
It's impossible for a normal person to guess what a madman is going to do.
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